


It’s not rulebreaking if you don’t know the rules

by SkywalkerCrow



Category: Bleach, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Language Barrier, OP Ichigo, This is more of a bleach fanfic than a HP one, and all shinigami I guess, so expect HP lore to bend to Bleach lore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25563235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkywalkerCrow/pseuds/SkywalkerCrow
Summary: Ichigo runs into the wizards of England in the same manner he does everything else, headfirst without knowing what’s happening.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 249





	1. Letters

**Author's Note:**

> From Harry Potter pov im using literal translations for things in the bleach universe

London was nice, Kurosaki Ichigo supposed— it probably would be better if his father didn’t have to be the translator for _literally everything_ all the time— but even if he absolutely loved the place it would be hard to enjoy a vacation with the new looming threat of Aizen in the back of his head. 

A threat that less than a handful of people in the world of the living even knew of. 

The loud city and crowding was also hard for him to be comfortable with for extended periods of time. So he honestly wanted some quiet alone time away from the city. He had left his body behind in the hotel room and flash-stepped in one direction until there wasn't a city around him anymore. That was how he found himself in Shinigami form walking down a street lined by tall yellow flower fields alone in England. 

Up ahead there was a kid sitting on a swing in a sorry excuse for a playground— it honestly looked like a small tornado hit it— the swing the kid was sitting on being the only one not broken and it looked like someone took a bat to the side of the slide. Before he walked past the park the kid got up and half ran after the one of the people from a group of kids that had been loudly talking with one another and just dispersed. 

Then the sky turned dark.

Ichigo wasn’t an expert on weather, nor England, but he was pretty sure a blazing hot sunny day turning cold, stormy and blue within less than a minute wasn’t normal. 

He stopped walking and looked up to the sky. 

The cold that stuck him was less of an actual change in temperature and more of a spiritual pressure drag— the kind that happens when hollows are nearby.

Then there was screaming— words were being shouted, but he had no idea what those words were— what he did know was that he was going to help. That was his job even if he was on vacation and even if wherever he wandered off to wasn’t Karakura. 

The two kids had run into a nearby tunnel, likely thinking that would give them safety from the sudden storm overhead. 

And as Ichigo flash stepped into the entrance to it he saw two creatures unlike hollows, yet undeniably dangerous and very much didn’t look like they belonged in the world of the living. 

One of the boys was shoved against the wall of the cement tunnel— struggling against the grasp of a dark wispy creature, while the other was laying on the ground with another doing _something_ to his face.

Those creatures very much weren’t hollows— not by any means— they didn’t have the hollow hole nor the white mask, and they more so floated in their air then stood on an invisible floor— more weightless wispy robes than thick solid muscle. He couldn’t even say they might be some sort of subspecies of hollow for how much they differed. 

Ichigo would have to ask Urahura about this when he got back. 

Quickly, he flash stepped over to the kid closest to him and slashed through the dark form— it dissipated almost instantly from the blow— the boy it had pushed against the wall fell and caught himself before he hit the ground. At the very least he wouldn’t be causing a big fight then. 

He then moved to the other boy and slashed through the creature that had been hovering parallel to him, and after its defeat Ichigo fell to his knees and checked on its victim— the kid was alive thankfully, simply unconscious. He hoped it wasn’t some sort of coma.

The question now was, what were those things? 

The kid's face seemed fine, but that creature looked to have been taking something from it, and that definitely wasn’t a good thing— they also appeared to have the ability to change the weather. Hollows make people feel uneasy, but they don’t turn the day’s sky dark with their presence.

He stood up from examining the fallen boy and turned to face the other kid. 

The other kid, _who was looking right at him with a mouth open in surprise._

“Oh? You can see me.” Ichigo noted after he got over that surprise. “Well I guess that’s why the hollow things were after you.”

Hollows came to Karakura frequently because of him— chasing after his reishi. But at least Ichigo could protect himself now, he looked like he wasn’t much of a fighter. 

“Hello?” The boy said in English. Then there were a large amount of words after that Ichigo had no idea what they meant.

“Sorry.” He half heartedly said. “Can’t understand you.”

He should probably leave now, even if he wanted to wait till the other kid woke up. 

Then there was shouting from an older woman who ran into the tunnel then froze at the spot and looked directly at him.

That made _two people_ who could see spirits in this area. He would have to ask who’s division England was in when he got back to Karakura— as he knows it being able to see spirits wasn’t unheard of, but it was unusual. The woman would probably make sure the kids were fine— and with that thought Ichigo flash stepped to the outside of the tunnel and started to make his way back to where he came. 

_Fighting on Vacation..._

He supposed fighting weak hollow adjacent creatures put some variation in looking at things all day and hoping his dad wasn’t being too embarrassing while he talked to the locals.

* * *

Ichigo went about three days before deciding he wanted to investigate further while he was here. Unfortunately that meant he had only today to investigate before having to take a plane back home tomorrow night. 

That was how he came to this one apartment complex in particular— leaving his living body back in the hotel room. He was ninety percent sure the reishi spikes were from this apartment building. There were quite a few of them across the city— but it was this one in particular he found himself at, as it was located in a residential area that wasn’t busy. 

_Why_ was the bigger question. 

Why were there spiritual pressure spikes at seemingly random parts of the city?

Hollows were unlikely— shinigami were even less so. Urahura's set up didn't even cause any reishi output. Maybe it was more of those creatures from before. At the very least, it couldn’t hurt to check it out. Hopefully no one would be able to see him walking though the door, but knowing his luck someone probably would. 

The hallway he stepped into was tall and narrow with dark wood and dusty old paintings— it was also empty, but not entirely quiet. From upstairs he could hear muffled talking, he could also sense a lot of weird presences— although he couldn’t tell who or what they were. Ichigo had never been that good at Reiryoku sensing unless it was quite literally sending him to the floor in pressure.

Directly down the hall there was a closed door that Ichigo could tell a lot of people were behind. He decided to go up the staircase directly to the side of it where he could hear the talking from.

Another closed door. Whoever was behind it would probably be able to see him. He leaned in close to it, but he couldn’t understand the language anyone from behind it was speaking. 

He probably should have just told Urahura about it instead of going off on his own. 

Ichigo backed away from the door and turned around.

Only to realize there was a woman with ginger hair a few steps down looking at him.

“Uh... hello.” He awkwardly said. 

She said something back— but of course Ichigo had no idea what it was. 

Then, to make things worse, the door he had been listening in opened to reveal a small crowd of kids— one of which was one of the pair he saved. 

He decided he was definitely calling Urahara.

* * *

“Death gods don’t typically interact with the living— even wizards they avoid— and muggles cannot see them to begin with.” Mad-Eye stated to the rest of the order of the phoenix. “For one to talk to someone— even if they couldn’t understand what was being said is unprecedented. They’re forces of nature itself.”

“Do you think this has something to do with he-who-shall-not-be-named?” Mrs Weasley asked. 

It was Sirius Black that spoke next.

“It is not unlikely. Why would dementors go after Harry to begin with? They’re supposed to be under the control of the ministry.” He paused. The attack had been so close to the new school year as well, that had to mean something although he did not know what. “Either someone in the ministry was trying to get rid of Harry or the dementors aren’t nearly as under their control as they think. At the very least the forces of this world were there to protect my nephew, even the gods of death want the prophecy to be fulfilled.”

“Then is there danger for Harry, or is this an insurance that the prophesy will happen?” Remus questioned. 

“It’s best to expect the worst.” Mad- Eye said. “Especially with what the Ministry is up to. You can never be too cautious.”

All of them knew what he spoke of. The Ministry’s and subsequent papers pushing of the narrative that Harry Potter was lying about encountering Voldemort was near constant. Even believing their best intentions for doing so it would hurt the wizarding world rather than help it. And right now they cannot afford to believe in their best intentions. Not right after Potter was attacked by dementors that were supposed to be under the control of said Ministry. 

“At the very least Harry is now in our hands.” Sirius said. “We can only hope there is more time before you-know-who makes his move.”

“Then this meeting is adjourned.” Said Remus. 

“I’ll get the kids.” Miss Weasley said before exiting the room and heading upstairs. 

* * *

Harry and his friends, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George were talking amongst themselves about the mysterious goings downstairs with the Order of the Phoenix when they heard Mrs. Weasley say something muffled from the other side of the door— she sounded surprised. 

Harry quickly jumped up and opened the door in a rush, his friends close behind him. 

Mrs. Weasley was not the only person in the narrow staircase. 

Standing directly on the other side of the door was that guy from earlier— the one who saved him from the dementors— looking trapped between them. 

How he was there Harry had no idea. This place was supposed be warded so that even Death Eaters could not enter without making a ruckus. 

In a flash— he seemingly teleported from on top of the staircase to behind the group of young wizards— without a wand or any kind of spell. 

Harry had never seen anything like that before and was startled into a short motionless silence. 

The stranger looked at the group in silence for a few moments then pointed to himself and spoke, looking confused. 

“Does anyone know a translation charm?” Harry asked. 

“Not on such short notice.” Answered Hermione. 

Then the strange man seemingly gave up trying to talk to them and looked around the room, then took notice of a picture, picking up its frame, turning it around and tapping on its glass before saying something else, and putting it back down. 

Clearly he was trying to speak to them— they just couldn’t understand what he was saying. 

That was when Harry’s uncle Sirius came upstairs along with Mad-eye— who pushed his way past his friends into the now rather cramped room. 

“What do you think he’s looking for?” Mad-eye questioned out loud. 

“He’s appeared near Potter twice now. That’s not just a coincidence.” Sirius responded, more politely stepping into the room and sounding a bit nervous.

But Harry had no idea what they were talking about— _obviously_ it couldn’t be a coincidence— then Harry thought about how dangerous this stranger potentially was. The twins couldn’t even use anything to overhear the conversation downstairs and somehow he appeared in the house without anyone being alerted— and he could perform wandless magic, controlled and skilled. 

“What is he?” Harry asked. 

Sirius looked at him with tight drawn eyes. 

“It’s a death god.” He simply stated.

Harry had never even heard of such a creature or being before.

“I thought those were rarely ever seen!” Hermione exclaimed.

This man had not simply sent the dementors away— but actually _eradicated their existence—_ something Harry had thought was impossible _—_ and he had done so with such ease. He could understand why whatever he is was called a death _god_ because of that. Although he didn't understand how he had never heard about them before this moment. 

“What’s it doing here?” He asked. 

“That _is_ the question, isn’t it?” Mad-eye said in a manner that didn’t quite sound like a question and yet was filled with some type of curiosity. 

Harry looked at the intruder who was seemingly being distracted by pictures on the wall and not at all moved by Mad-eyes less than conventional appearance. 

“I'm Harry Potter.” He took a step forward and pointed to himself, sounding out the words, the stranger looked at him at the sound. “Did you come for me?”

The death god pointed at himself, and thought for a moment— at least Harry thought it looked like he was thinking.

“Kurosaki Ichigo.” He said slowly. 

For all Harry knew that could have been a phrase, but he had a feeling it was his name.

That was when Mad-eye approached, walking directly up to him with a hand next to his eye instead of saying at a polite distance. In response the death god lifted his hands in a universal sign of non violence— although Mad-eye didn’t intend to be hostile, he couldn’t fault him for thinking like that. Then he teleported away, back to the top of the stairs— appearing for just a moment, then he was gone from Harry’s sight. 

“Wow.”

“Wicked.”

The twins said one after the other. 

“Wasn’t this place warded?” Ron asked. “You know— top secret place and all that.”

“No magic ward can stop a god of death.” Mad-eye stated. 

But Mad-eye's lack of personal boundaries could, Harry supposed. 

* * *

“Hey. Urahara.” Ichigo said into his phone.

“Oh—? Ichigo! What can I do for you at this hour. Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation?”

“Yeah... I may have run into a problem.”

“Ah— How _unusual_ for you.” He sarcastically said.

Ichigo ignored that. 

“Yeah you ever hear of some floating dark not hollow creature?”

“That’s not very descriptive.”

“They were going after some kids— no idea what they were doing to them but they seemed fine after.”

“Fine as in?”

“Living, not injured physically— definitely shaken up though.”

“Anything else?”

“They were stealing the kids face— or something like that— it looked like they were pulling from the kids face into its mouth.”

“Oh. I have heard of that.” Urahura said, changing tone from his fake cheerful self. “But they're supposed to be perfectly safe to people— not like hollows at all. Shinigami never deal with them. Not really their business.”

“Well clearly these ones weren’t.”

“Hmm— if things like this keep happening to random people, someone in soul society will probably do something about it. Is that all?”

That is, if they have enough resources to deal with the problem— the aftermath of Aizen’s betrayal was already causing them enough trouble on top of their normal duties. Unless it’s an apocalyptic level of problem he doubted there would be much done. 

“I also met people who can see me. A lot of them.”

Urahura took a moment of silence before responding.

“What did they say?”

“No idea— I can’t exactly understand English. Pretty sure one of them tried to exchange names with me though." At least he was pretty sure the kid with glasses said _I am_ then his name. "I think I accidentally infiltrated their hideout or something, but none of them tried to attack me at least.”

Urahura let out a laugh.

“Best to leave those kinds alone.” Ichigo was getting the feeling hat-and-clogs knew exactly what he was talking about— he also knew the guy probably wouldn’t tell him unless it was beneficial to him somehow. “They’re hmmm... Inoue and Chad adjacent. For the most part they stay in their own little world. Shinigami try to avoid them.”

“But what _are_ they.”

“Enjoy your vacation~!”

The line clicked dead.

* * *

Potter opened the book of monsters. It read: 

_Death Gods._

_Class: Spirit. (Categorized in 1822 by the Ministry of Magic)_

_Mortality: Amortal._

_Much like other creatures in the spirit class they cannot be seen by muggles._

_Only ever appearing to dissipate other spirit species, good and evil._

_Not once has the description of a death god been the exact same as another. Either these creatures are many and vast, or it is singular and constantly changes form. They take the appearance of a human in dark flowing robes with white underneath, and carry swords. They are not known to communicate with the living in any terms. Attempts to interact are ignored.  
_

_By touching the bottom hilt of their sword to a spirit they eliminate its existence from this Earth. They are the only means in which a spirit trapped in this world can move on._

_Death Gods are also capable of powerful wandless magic and use spells not known to us. As such it has the umbrella term of demon magic, separate from regular magic._

Next to the description was a pretty accurate portrayal of their robes from what Harry could remember— the drawing did not give any facial feature or color, just the vague notion that they were human in general appearance. 

None of this really helped Harry as to why one of these creatures came to see him again. The first time he could easily say it was to get rid of the rouge dementors. The second was simply _strange—_ talking— that’s something the book said they don’t do— and clearly not just doing a job but observing the surroundings of his uncle’s childhood home and leaving only when Mad-eye got a bit too close. 

Hermione had given him a feather charmed with a translation spell in case he saw him again. 

Hopefully Harry would see him again. 

* * *

Something rapped against his window in the late evening. 

Ichigo sighed and opened it— expecting someone from the soul society to come barging in, at least most of them now had the decency to knock instead of walking though his walls— instead a bird flew inside and landed on his desk and that shocked him into freezing before quickly he was overtaken by annoyance. 

“Shoo— get out of here!” He told the bird

Ichigo waved his hands at it; trying to scare it away— but it didn’t even move at his waving. The bird— an owl Ichigo realized, was very much not afraid of humans so much so the Ichigo was able to poke it without it biting him or flying away. When he sat at his desk the bird hopped closer to him. 

“Are you a shinigami?” 

But there wasn’t a response. That was when Ichigo noticed there was a letter tied to its leg, held in one of its claws. 

“Wouldn’t they have sent a hell butterfly?” 

Or wouldn’t Rukia or Renji bust into his room uninvited to pass along a message.

He gently untied the string— and the owl immediately took off back out the window once the letter was in his hands.

That _definitely_ was not a normal bird. Ichigo decided. 

The paper was neatly rolled up, and sealed in a deep red wax— after breaking the seal and unraveling it he discovered that he couldn’t read it, there had also been a white feather nearly contained inside it, that he had no idea what it was for or if it symbolized something. 

Urahura probably could read it. 

* * *

“You didn’t give your name to them, did you?” Hat and clogs asked. 

“Uh— why?”

“No reason.”

“Am I going to get more birds flying in through my window?” Ichigo was getting the feeling that was related to the question. 

“It’s not an unlikely scenario.” Urahura said before immediately moving on. “On a good note, they’re not mad at you. On a less good note soul society _will_ be mad at you if they find out.”

“What, why?”

“Interference with the living— you know, the usual rules Karakura town ignores.” He said with a wave of his fan. “You really should read up on those to avoid incidents like this.”

“How am I even supposed to do that? I’m not technically a shinigami anyways.”

“You could have called me earlier than you did.”

“Are you at least going to tell me what it was about.”

“Hmmm…” Urahura covered the bottom half of his face with his fan. “If another one comes— bring the bird to me. I’ll send something back.”

Ichigo supposed that moment he wouldn’t be finding out what the letter was about.

* * *

Urahura sighed after Ichigo left his store.

Kursaki was getting himself into big fine messes again. 

The feather that had arrived with the letter was charmed with a translation spell. And perhaps through luck Ichigo hadn’t broken it or realized it wasn’t a normal feather— the sender must have assumed Ichigo would simply know its use. 

He put the feather aside, for _later purposes._

The letter he had received had read: 

_To the death god called Ichigo Kurosaki,_

_My name is Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts schools of witchcraft and wizardry._

_I must first thank you for helping one of my students in his time of desperate need._

_The entire school is being monitored, in order to send this letter without it being intercepted, it had to be given to a friend who could release it far from the school grounds._

_The entirety of the ministry of magic denies the return of he who shall not be named, and is silencing those who say different. Because of that my student Harry Potter has been targeted by those who should be allies. I and the rest of the wizarding world is in the unknown when it comes to your kind, and do hope your repeated presence continues and means good will for our dear Harry._

_There’s a new teacher at Hogwarts, although her true intentions for being here remain clouded. Certainly they do not lie entirely in the educational sense. She is a mole, everyone suspects. One that even as the headmaster I am not permitted to remove as she was appointed by the ministry of magic. As the professor of the dark arts her model is that of non-effectiveness. Our students are willfully unprepared for the oncoming storm, and I cannot change that._

_No one is capable of entering her office. There are wards that even our best wizards cannot break. I suspect she keeps materials and information that would be useful to our cause. Your kind is capable of a great many things otherwise impossible, I have heard without detection you had entered the Black family house, despite their wards and magical protection._

_It would be greatly beneficiary to all of the wizarding world if her office was to be looked through, and the truth revealed._

_From,_

_Headmaster Dumbledore._

From what Urahura knew, their little problem went, something something— prophecy— dark lord returning— something something— Hogwarts going through some sort of rehaul. 

If he was a hundred years younger and still the 12th division captain he’d be a lot more interested, but right now he had Aizen to deal with— the mess he partly caused with the Hōgyoku— Kurosaki’s hollow half— and the vizards.

Plus, if anyone at the soul society found out Kurosaki was messing with things he shouldn’t again _,_ they were going to be significantly less lenient than usual. _Probably._

They wouldn’t kill him or seal away his powers— at least not as long as they needed them, he was definitely at captain level powers at least and that was something of great value— but they would make certain he knew the rules. Maybe they would even make him do work from the Shino academy. After all, he did completely skip that part and went straight to being the official shinigami of Karakura. Ichigo doesn’t even know any kido. 

From what he heard, Kenpachi considers him one of his own squad despite technically still being alive. 

Hopefully this professor would leave them alone if properly ignored— Urahura wasn’t exactly proficient in the type of magic they do, and therefore wouldn’t be able to prevent their delivery owls from going to Kurosaki’s residence. 

If not, hopefully a friendly letter will work. 

Kurosaki has to be here, doing the work of a shinigami— ironically he was better off not involving himself with human affairs. 

* * *

The owl had returned to its owner empty handed, Dumbledore had been informed of. That meant the death god was somewhere that could be found. Usually when an owl fails to deliver a message it returns with the letter in hand, and this one hadn’t looked or acted like it had been shot down and the letter stolen from someone else.

Dumbledore had been hopeful that a response would be given, but he had not expected one. Everyone could always do with more allies. And these people or person was very poorly understood.

He would send another letter, he decided.

* * *

It was in the middle of the night when Ichigo dragged a bird into Urahura’s shop. 

“Oh— another delivery?”

“Take it—! Take the bird!” Ichigo shouted, holding it at arms length as it pecked his hands, clearly not too happy about being moved. 

With a cloth he tied its wings together so it wouldn’t fly away, then removed the letter from its leg and read it. 

“You can go now.” He told Ichigo with a wave of his hand. 

“Not even going to give me a hint at what it says?”

“Nope!”

“Great.” 

Urahura would love to put a tracker on this bird— but alas, he didn't need _another_ side project— with shinigami avoiding them he never really got a chance to study how things work. With Ichigo being the main one interacting with them it would have been a perfect situation. 

After writing the letter he tied it to the bird’s leg. When unbound from the cloth wrapping the owl immediately took off in the air and disappeared high into the night sky. 

Less effective than a hell butterfly, but it wasn’t terrible he supposed.

* * *

It was the second letter that garnered a response, tied to the leg of the owl that had delivered the letter. When Dumbledore received a letter from his friend he felt genuine excitement and hope. 

The contents of the letter would quell that feeling. 

It read: 

_Dear Headmaster Dumbledore,_

_This letter is not being sent by Kurosaki._

_The reason you have several souls within your school that want to pass and yet cannot is because death gods specifically avoid the magical living world. Nothing much I can do about fixing that._

_I believe they may be a misconception about a mutual friend. It is never the intention of death gods to interfere with the world of the living, he has simply never been one for rule following, not that he has ever bothered to read them to begin with._

_Be assured it won’t happen again. It would be best if this letter was not spoken of._

_I believe our worlds work in similar ways. Your kind do not want regular humans to know of you, we do not like the living to know of us._

_From,_

_A friend of our rulebreaker._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read a part of order of the phoenix for this and it literally reads like a shitty fanfiction or something like what the hell, everyone who isn’t Harry is a strawman made solely for him to push down, including Hermione and Ron. You cannot go 4 pages without a continuity error. I read the first book a few years ago and I swear it’s written 10x better, like what happened. I haven’t been so absolutely dumbfounded by literature since I read the original Jeff the killer story


	2. Parallel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiskue Urahara attempts to put everything back in its rightful place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m as surprised there is a second chapter as you are honestly. There will also be a third because this one was like way over 10k words and I was like alright (filthy frank voice) it’s time to stop.
> 
> Also Massive Manga spoilers (but honestly it’s been so long even if you didn’t read it you probably know about them. I’m one of the people who didn’t read it it know about them also lol)
> 
> And yeah the Harry Potter timeline is a bit fast forwarded and out of order in this but……… that’s because I didn’t expect to make a second chapter so I skipped things that weren't important to a one shot in the beginning. What’s not whatever is the repetition of what happened in cannon, I hope that isn’t too annoying

“I have come before the Ministry of Magic today with disquieting news.” Dumbledore began, standing on the marble floored room. “On the second of August, Dementors attacked Harry Potter and his cousin Dudley Dursley while they were walking home.”

“Preposterous.” Cornelius Fudge, the headmaster of the Ministry, immediately retorted.

“Has he been making up stories again then?” Another council member added from the seats.

Dumbledore knew better than to interrupt them— as wrong as they might be. Sometimes he even thought they believed their own lies, but he knew somewhere deep down in them they knew the truth. They knew Harry Potter wasn’t lying— they knew the newspapers were. Although he could not prove it, he would bet they themselves had a hand in making those false accusations come to being written. 

“And, how exactly did young Harry Potter escape these… Dementors if this tall tale is true?” Fudge questioned, turning his attention back to Dumbledore. 

Dementors were no easy creature to fend off as an adult, never mind a mere student of magic. It was the logical next step to question how he escaped. 

Lupin had taught young Harry how to create a patronus, but the Ministry was unaware he was able to do so. It also was not how he escaped the dementors’ grip. 

“Now, the most unusual thing happened.” Dumbledore paused, and looked at the faces of the ministry, looking for a reaction amongst their faces. “A death god appeared and killed them.”

That drew immediate responses. 

“An absolutely ridiculous story, Headmaster— you must see how implausible it is at the very least.” Fudge commented. “I’m sure if Potter were to be here today it would be quite the rehearsed story, likely how he convinced you headmaster.”

“The fact that the only other witness was a muggle, and as well all know muggles cannot see spirits and therefore cannot confirm any of this? Awfully convenient that is.” Another member loudly spoke over the rest. 

Nearly the entirety of the Order of the Phoenix had seen the death god afterwards. Seemingly following Harry. But very obviously he could not tell them that fact. 

“There was another witness besides Harry.” He simply stated. “Arabella Doreen Figg had also seen both the dementors and the death god. I am here, before this court, to openly question why two dementors were ordered to be there that day.”

“I think we might have a record of it if someone had ordered a pair of Dementors to go strolling through Little Whanging!” Barked Fudge.

“Not if the Dementors are taking orders from someone other than the Ministry of Magic these days.” Dumbledore responded. 

“The Dementors remain in place in Azkaban and are doing everything we ask them to.”

“Then,” said Dumbledore, quietly but clearly gazing at everyone on the court, “we must ask ourselves why somebody within the Ministry ordered a pair of Dementors into that alleyway on the second of August."

“Eh hem.” A high pitched voice of a woman called out from the council. “So silly of me, but it sounded for a moment like you were suggesting the ministry had ordered an attack on this boy.”

Dumbledore had thought he stated that clearly enough. 

“If Dementors truly only take orders from the Ministry, as you have stated, then logically yes. It is a greatly disturbing thing. Perhaps there should be an investigation into the matter.” Dumbledore took a few steps forward, and with a lowered voice said. “Cornelius, I beg you to use reason, there is evidence that the dark lord has returned.”

“He’s not. _Back_.” Fudge emphasized with lowered words of his own. 

Dumbledore opened his mouth to retort something, then thought better of it and said with neatly folded hands: 

“That is all I wished to say.”

“The Courts will investigate what needs to be investigated.” Fudge stated loudly for all to hear. “This meeting is over.”

He slammed his gavel. 

* * *

Dumbledore made the meeting for two reasons. 

One, to introduce the idea that there may be traitors in the midst. And two, to strike fear in the individual who ordered the attack. Hearing Harry Potter was saved by a god of death— that is no light thing. 

And speaking of death gods, Dumbledore has not given up yet. 

For the first time in all of wizarding history they have made consistent contact with a death god. He has learned they aren’t singular and changing shape— but many. And yet somehow they are nearly impossible to find. They don’t _want_ to be found. There should be signs of groups living somewhere— there were even signs of unicorns if one looked hard enough. But there was simply no trace. Whatever magic they wielded was indeed powerful if they could hide their place of existence for so long. 

Perhaps they lived wherever spirits disappeared to after death. 

They were thought to be a force of nature, singularly focused in their duties as letting the dead crossover. But now he learned one of them had the personality and place of mind to ignore some unnamed rules set in place by their kind. Despite his old age he couldn’t get over how monumental this was. 

Or perhaps Dumbledore wasn’t the first to talk to them. Maybe whoever had previously had held their silence about them, as he was now. 

Based on the letter he received he figured the death god Harry had encountered was perhaps a student, or someone who had been out where and when they should not have. Much like young wizards themselves, he now knew they make mistakes and have minds capable of error. Not quite forces of nature as they were believed to be, although they seemingly did the impossible. 

Could those beings theoretically pull the part of Voldemort’s soul out of Harry? Dumbledore wondered. 

If that was possible, perhaps his sacrifice could be avoided. 

Small steps. He figured. 

One does not make trustworthy friends in a single day. 

* * *

_“I must not tell lies.”_

The back of Harry’s hand burned sharp and hot with the words. 

It was a punishment for lying in class. Except he never told any lies. Everything he said was true. Voldemort was back. He really was attacked by dementors— he really did see a death god. It was Professor Umbrage who was the liar. 

She was the worst dark arts defense teacher so far. Nothing in the class was useful in any practical way— and half the stuff they had already learned in previous years. Even Snape would have been a better pick.

His first day of Potions was certainly better than the first day in her class. 

To make matters worse his own house mates thought he was lying about everything as well. They believed the newspaper over him. The _Daily Prophet._

He watched Cedric die. And no one believed how it happened. 

And now Dumbledore was avoiding him— he had avoided him all summer, and it looked like it was continuing that into the school year. 

Really, the only hopeful thing he had in mind for the future was that death god might visit him again. From what his Uncle had told him, Dumbledore supposedly sent him a letter, but again Harry hasn’t heard anything from Dumbledore. Not that he received a response, or even what was in what he sent— if the owl had been able to find him at all.

“Harry— we should tell Dumbledore about this.” Hermione said, after seeing his hand in the common room. 

He had tried to hide it, but a hand wound isn’t an easy thing to pretend not to have. 

“He _already_ knows she’s a spy and knows about the dementors.” Retorted Harry. “He hasn’t done anything much about it. Telling him again wouldn’t do much good. It’s not like he can fire her— she’s _Ministry appointed.”_

“Still… there has to be something we can do.” Harmonie said. “She’s _torturing_ you.”

“There really isn’t.” Harry firmly stated, getting up off the couch. 

He left for his room without another word. 

* * *

This thought should have come to him earlier.

“Ishida, do you know how to read English?” He asked over the phone.

“Yes. I am fluent in three languages.”

 _Show off—_ Ichigo thought. 

“Yeah well, can you come over and do a favor for me.”

He heard Ishida sigh. 

“I’m assuming this is important and this isn’t you trying to cheat your way out of a class.” 

“I didn’t even take English— and of course it’s important. I wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t.” He looked at the owl. “And maybe time sensitive.”

He didn’t know how long the bird would stay here. Every once in a while it would peck at him to get his attention. But he knew he needed the bird to say something back. At least that’s what Urahura said, and it looked like it was the same one as last time so the man hadn’t dissected it or did anything else. 

“How time sensitive?” Ishida asked. 

“Could you come over tonight?” 

There was a pause. 

“I’ll be there in a few hours.”

The Quincy may be a bit rude about things, act like he doesn’t care or doesn’t like him— but in the end he was always there. Ichigo tried not to think too hard on the fact that he lost his Quincy powers fighting a Captain, fighting to rescue a shinigami— his supposed enemy— because eventually Rukia did become his friend as well, even if he said he only went because of Chad and Orihime. 

He couldn’t imagine how that would feel to lose all the powers he’s worked for forever. That brief time he spent without them made him feel so useless. He has no idea what he would have done if Urahura didn’t have a way of helping him get them back. 

“A few hours!? It'll be like three in the morning then!”

“Take it or leave it.”

Ichigo leaned back in his chair. 

He still had a lot of catching up to do in school from the time he spent in Soul Society. He’d study while he was waiting for him to drop by. 

“Fine.”

* * *

Thestrals were a creature Harry didn’t know existed until this year. 

To most people they were invisible. Only being able to be seen by someone who has witnessed death firsthand and accepted it. 

They were thought to be harbingers of death because of it, but Luna Lovegood— a Ravenclaw— insisted they weren’t, and showed him they didn’t mean any harm by taking him to a herd in the forbidden forest which Hagrid had supposedly cared for. Except Hagrid wasn’t here this year. And no one really knew where he went. 

That made two creatures thought to be related to death in reality be a bit different than most wizards thought. 

“I believe you, you know.” Luna Lovegood said as they were observing the herd.

She didn’t have to explicitly state what she was talking about for him to understand what she meant. It was _the_ talk of the school this year. 

“Thanks.” He said. “You might be the only one who does believe me.”

“If I were… you-know-who, I’d do the same thing.” 

“What?” Harry questioned, suddenly very off put by her admission coming out of completely nowhere. 

She spoke so matter-of-factly. Unencumbered and unafraid to say almost anything. 

“Separate you from your friends. So that you don’t have anyone to stand by your side. It would make things easier.”

She threw a piece of raw meat at the Thestral and it happily rushed to eat it. 

Maybe Luna wasn’t as strange as everyone thought, but simply knew too many truths people thought were opposite. That’s the same reason why people had started to dislike him this year.

Harry decided he was going to talk with his friends— apologize— and maybe bring along a new one as well. 

He would need all the help he could get. 

* * *

“How exactly did you manage to get an owl in your room?” Ishida asked at approximately three-oh-seven in the morning. 

“It came here on its own—but that’s not the point.” He took the letter from it’s foot. “I need you to read this.”

He took the letter and pushed up his glasses. The bird hopped onto his bed and perched itself on his windowsill. 

“To the Shinigami called Kurosaki Ichigo. Or the unnamed friend of our rule breaker.” Ishida paused. Then he asked. “What did you do, Kurosaki?”

“What— I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Rule breaker is obviously referring to you. Not that I mind if you run around breaking shinigami laws.”

“Just read the whole thing, I'll explain what happened after.”

He frowned at him, but kept reading. 

“What is done cannot be undone. However I am no stranger to holding secrets and I will hold the majority of the encounter from our public eye. I will not ask mixing of our worlds on this planet as we do the same with… muggles, but like with them a helping hand for certain matters is necessary. If allowed to continue further, our world’s problem may become a Shinigami problem. It would be best if it was stopped before it can become an all out war. And this mole is simply one of many deceits and problems surrounding the issue. If she were to be discovered the entire school would greatly benefit from having an actual dark arts defense teacher for when the time for battle inevitably comes. There will be many spirits in the aftermath, and I do believe that is your jurisdiction. From headmaster… Al-bus Dumb-el-door.”

For a few seconds it was silent.

“What exactly did you do Kurosaki?” He asked again. 

“Look, I just saved some kids from a monster on vacation, that’s all.” He stated. “I think Urahara might have been talking to this headmaster. I brought all this to him first. Tried asking him what all this was about but he just brushed me off.”

“Why would you go to him first?”

“Well he usually deals with weird things and I figured he might know what those things were that went after those kids— and he did know. But now birds keep flying in through my window— this is like the third time!”

“Ever consider closing your window? Unlike Shinigami, I doubt it could phase through your wall.”

“The thing pecked at it for like an hour. It doesn’t try to leave till you take the letter from it’s leg.”

“Hmm…” He pushed up his glasses again. “What do you want to say back?”

“I was just thinking of bringing it up with Urahara.”

“You trust him to say what you want to say?”

“Not exactly. Sounds like they need help, probably said exactly what kind of help in the last letter and only Urahara knows what that is. Do you have any idea what all this is about. Hat and clogs said it was Chad and Inoue adjacent— whatever that means.”

“Unfortunately not. That man hides many things. I don’t trust him under most circumstances.”

“Well he’s still our best bet for these kinds of things.”

Ishida was silent for a moment. 

“I’ll leave the ex-Shinigami to you then.”

* * *

A very public disagreement between McGonagall and Umbridge is what led her to getting more power over the school. 

She said Hogwarts was lacking in discipline— all it’s teachers worse than she thought, and the Ministry needed to reform the school for the benefit of the next generation of wizards. And so, only a week into the school year she moved up in the ranks. 

Umbridge was given a position that might as well have replaced Headmaster Dumbledore. _High Inquisitor._

Now, she had the power to fire teachers. Everyone knew it was coming. It was just a matter of who would get the first kick. 

She inspected professors in every class, and seemed not to be pleased with any of them. But there was one in particular that stood out. 

Professor Trelawney had never made a successful prediction. Hermione had quit the class because she thought Trelawney couldn’t teach her anything— and she was right, but that’s why Ron and Harry kept taking the class. It was easy because it was all quite fake and imprecise. They could make up anything and pass the class, most of the time they made up random stories for their dream journals. Even McGonagall made a passing mention of her false predictions once. 

And Umbridge was now quite frequently visiting her class. Ron and Harry didn’t have to talk to one another to convey they both thought she was going to be the first one to be sacked from the school.

All in all, somehow Umbrage made Harry feel bad for her, when usually she made him feel quite annoyed or second hand embarrassed. 

“Could you make a prediction for me?” Umbrage asked in the middle of her class.

“One does not simply make predictions on command.”

“Well, if that’s so.” She started to scribble something down on her clipboard.

“ _Wait…”_ Trewlawney said in realization, holding a hand out and sounding a bit desperate. “I see something that has to do… with you. A man in a hat. He’s more dangerous than he looks… taking something important… but it isn’t really important at all… and if you ever see him, you’ll be in grave danger… looking death in the face…”

 _Grave danger_ and _death_ was the typical thing she “predicted.” Harry didn’t think she had ever done any different— except for that one time last year when she predicted based on how he looked he had been born in the middle of winter, except he wasn’t born in winter at all. He was born at the end of July. Which had really greatly surprised her, he supposed no one really told her the guesses she made was wrong. Or maybe that was her first time trying to make a guess about the past so no one ever had the chance to tell her she was wrong before. 

“Right…” Umbrage said in a tone that clearly stated she wasn’t impressed and she wrote something down on her clipboard. “If that’s really the best you can do.” 

She sharply turned on her heels and left the classroom. 

Everyone quickly looked down at their tea leaves when Trelawney turned her attention back to the class. 

Then she went on about even dreaming of portage meant impending doom. 

Basically, the usual for one of her divination classes. 

* * *

Kurosaki Ichigo being unable to let someone in need of help go was going to be the end of all them one day. 

Right now it was interfering with Urahura’s carefully laid plans.

“He’s talking about some war— what’s this headmaster asking for, to find evidence of a spy and that’s it?”

Apparently he figured out how to read the letters being sent. Urahura should have figured more would come despite his gentle discouragement. Maybe there should be less gentle _discouragement_ then.

“Honestly… we have too much over here to deal with. Aizen will show his hand eventually. You can’t be involved in whatever oncoming war they have going on _and_ Aizen. And we need you here.” He waved his closed fan. 

They’ll need everyone when the time comes. It is going to be soon, they just didn’t know how soon. Could be in a year, could be in a week. Urahara hoped it was later rather than sooner, for everyone’s sake. He hoped he would have enough time to find Aizen’s location before the attack was made, maybe that way no innocent lives will be lost in the upcoming battle. 

“But I just can’t leave them hanging— I could break into her office in like thirty minutes.”

Urahara opened his fan. 

Ichigo’s Reiryoku awakened the power in his friends— sealed with a badge a bit too late to stop his influence over humans. Even though Kurosaki himself was human. Sort of. Quincys were human in the same way Wizards were human he supposed, and Kurosaki did have his original living human body to occupy even if his soul was completely separated from it. Like a living gigai. It was all quite complicated. 

He was the mix of all types of souls. Urahara’s perfect subject. Strong enough to theoretically on his own blow a hole through Sōsuke Aizen’s powers even if he combines with the Hōgyoku. Even if that might come at a cost to him. 

Soul Society simply looked the other way at Karakura town after Aizen’s betrayal because of that power. 

They didn’t bother with Chad or Orihime despite everything they’ve seen. Too much trouble than they were worth getting rid of or giving to Kurotsuchi with Kurosaki lurking around. And Urahara knew having two Fullbringers on their side would be more helpful than having to erase their memories over and over again when they inevitably came across more hollows that invaded Karakura because of Kurosaki. 

But they weren’t messing with Karakura anymore. 

They would have to be careful. _Urahara_ would have to be careful. 

If they messed with things outside of Karakura bad enough maybe the head captain would drag him and Kurosaki back to Soul Society despite all the trouble it would cause. And he didn’t want that. 

“You’re not going to leave this alone, are you?” 

“Well it’s not like that bird is going to be leaving me alone either.”

Kurosaki was too loud to be left to his own devices. Not quite banished anymore— and technically at captain rank— Urahara was supposed to be making sure he doesn’t get in too much trouble. This certainly qualified as that. Eventually Kurosaki would figure out a way to get into the wizarding world— he figured out how to read the letter, there wasn’t exactly anything stopping him from writing back. 

If Urahara found out where these wizards were located, perhaps he could try to use his Kikanshinki to erase the memory of this headmaster ever meeting Kurosaki— after finding out the names of his students that saw him in the first place that is. Then it would be as if no one ever saw him to begin with. 

He would be better off with someone watching what he was doing, and he certainly wasn’t going to leave this alone. Urahara supposed he also had some interest in how wizards function— he never had the opportunity to take a closer look at them. 

It was a risky solution, but at the same time it was the most manageable one— the one he could control the most elements of— and more importantly he’d get something out of it as well. 

“How about this… we’ll send one more letter back, asking for details, then we’ll help. We as in I’m coming with you.”

“You serious?”

“Of course. I can’t just let you wander around their school clueless. You might accidentally send away a spirit that you're not supposed to.” 

“What the hell do you mean by that? There’s spirits I shouldn’t Konsō?”

“Don’t worry about it!” Urahara waved his hand. “Should only take you thirty minutes to find evidence in her office hmmm? Probably won’t come across anyone if we go at night.”

Ichigo took a moment of silence. 

“When do we leave?”

“No idea! He didn’t say which teacher we need to dig dirt on— not that you could read the office names in the first place. Basically just come back when you have another letter. I’ll write something back right now.” He took a pen out of his sleeve. 

“Great…”

* * *

_Dear headmaster Dumbledore,_

_You sure do know how to be persuasive. I’ll bite, for this one time only. Give me the name of that teacher and where the office is and I’ll come with our friend to solve the problem, although I must warn you he’s quite fond of leaving messes behind._

_From, a friend of our rulebreaker._

The letter was short and to the point.

Dumbledore was glad he convinced them to lend a hand. 

The school year had already begun now. And Umbridge was beginning to take her toll on students and teachers alike. 

She held the second most powerful position in the school. Dumbledore was worried about which teachers she may dismiss. Based on the gossip going around she had said something disquieting to every single one of them. From Flitwick to Snape and everyone in between. If she started dismissing them and he couldn’t find anyone to take the job the ministry would then have the ability to appoint more of their own teachers.

Hogwarts was stretching itself at the seams trying to hold onto what it was.

The Ministry of Magic called it a “reform” for better teaching but Dumbledore knew what it really was. 

He responded:

_Dear the Death God named Ichigo Kurosaki._

_And his unnamed friend._

_Her name is Dolores Umbridge and her office is the seventh from the left on the third floor of Hogwarts school of wizarding and witchcraft. My office is in the headmaster’s tower at the highest point in the school. Simply leave what was found there. I am regularly in my office at the standard working hours. Perhaps I could offer some tea as a small thanks._

_Best regards,_

_Headmaster Albus Dumbledore._

* * *

  
  


Hermionie eventually came to the suggestion that they should find a different way to learn defense against the dark arts seeing as Proffessor Umbidge wasnt twaching anyone anything. 

Ron was pretty much against it from the start, they were only two weeks into the school year and already behind on homework and receiving D’s on the first basic test in Potions. He didn’t want to have to do extra work. 

Harry was against it because everyone in the Order was pretty busy or avoiding him. And Lupin, the person most likely to help, they could only see on the weekends in Hogsmeade. 

Then Hermione said _Harry_ should be the teacher. That they should teach themselves and other students that wanted to learn and hated Umbridge. 

And Ron added that his brothers could probably make something nasty so that no one can snitch about the group to her and not be caught.

So Harry found himself being convinced. If only out of spite towards Umbrage.

The meeting place they first went to was in Hogsmeade. It wasn’t exactly banned to make study groups, but it was pretty obvious that if it was wide in the open she wouldn’t be too happy about it. 

Somehow, Hermione managed to get just under thirty people to show up. He had expected maybe ten at most and all of them being in the Gryffindor house. Harry didn’t even know she even knew that many people, and a lot of them belonged to other houses. But no one from Slytherin obviously. 

They all agreed to meet once a week, and signed the paper the twins had made. 

That Monday everyone was greeted by a new educational decree being nailed into the walls framing the left side of the great hall. All student groups were banned until they had approval from Umbrage. 

Suddenly they needed a much more secret place to teach than an empty classroom.

That was when Dobby told Harry about the room of requirement, and in turn he told his friends. 

“We should make sure the room actually exists first before telling the others about it.” Harry said to Ron and Hermione. “We can sneak out at night and look for it with my cloak, then if we find it we can have classes during our free periods. And let anyone who wants to practice spells use it in their own time.” He opened the Marauders map. “Mr. Filch is on the second floor all the way in the west corridor. Should be clear for us to find it.” 

Then they were off to find the room of requirement, feeling a bit exhilarated that they were fighting back against the Ministry and Umbrage.

* * *

It was little over two weeks since Ichigo confronted Urahara about what was in the letter when the man called him into his shop and told him to leave his human body behind. He hadn’t had anymore birds flying at his window after that so he supposed whatever hat n’ clogs said had worked. 

“Now I can’t drop us down inside the school— that might bring too much attention. So we’re going to have to find our way through it.” 

“How big is this school exactly?”

“We’ll be fine.” He waved his fan back and forth. “It probably shouldn’t have any guards…”

“Uh… alright.” Ichigo accepted. “How are we gonna get there anyways?”

“This way!”

The pair descended into Urahara’s basement. 

“Unfortunately there is no way to travel quickly halfway across the world. So instead we’re going to Hueco Mundo, then from there we’re going to the school. Bit out of the way but really what can you do."

“Isn’t that the world of the hollows? Wouldn’t it be safer to go to Soul Society and back?”

“Not when we don’t want them to know. Someone like you shows their presence and they’ll be questions about why you were there.”

He supposed that was true. 

“Wait… how do you know how to make a Garganta?”

“Anyways, remember to make a platform beneath your feet or you’ll fall infinitely and get lost!”

He had a feeling hat n clogs wasn’t going to answer that question. If Shinji or one of the Visored said they could make one, he would have just accepted it seeing as they were part hollow— but this man was a whole Shinigami. 

Unlike a Sekimonon, Urahura didn’t need to use his Zanpakutō in order to open it. 

In a swift motion he cut his hand through the air and stopped short, then he lifted it up, opening the Garganta. 

Hueco Mundo was cold, and covered in white sand underneath a black sky. 

Then Ichigo had a thought.

“Shouldn’t someone in soul society be looking for Aizen and the other two here?”

“It’s too big of a place. I’d assume they have some sort of cloaking as well. Isn’t worth the effort to then really. Wouldn’t wanna to destroy the hollow hierarchy either looking for them.”

Sounded stupid to him. But he wasn’t a Captain so he couldn’t do anything about it. 

Urahara opened another Garganta, and they jumped through it. 

Coming out on the other side, he was immediately greeted with the sight of an actual genuine _castle_ surrounded by tall jagged cliffs and still water on all sides. 

This might take a while. Ichigo thought. 

The next thing he noticed was that behind them there was a forest of towering trees and the air smelled distinctly of pine wood. There was snow scattered on the ground— if Ichigo was in his body he was pretty certain he would feel a chill in the air. It seemed like they had snow here earlier than in Japan. Wherever here was. 

Urahara whistled at the sight, seemingly as impressed as Ichigo was. 

“Isn’t this place supposed to be a school?” He incredulously asked. 

“It is.”

He shunpoed a few meters ahead, standing on the air above the lake.

“Remember Kurosaki— everyone will be able to see us so we better get out before sunrise!”

Ichigo took off after him. 

He rarely saw Urahara use his Shinigami abilities, and wondered how long it took him to make a gigai capable of that. He couldn’t even use his in his human body. And that was a bit of a weird thought. That in his mind he saw his soul and flesh as separate things and not two things that made up the same body. 

Touching down at the entrance Ichigo noted it was taller than he originally thought; With archways and windows alike standing tall then dramatically curving to a point in the middle. The stone that made the castle was a grey that looked blue under the winter’s night sky contrasting greatly to the snow on top of it. It was quite unlike any of the places he had ever been.

The reishi in the air was strong here as well. He could feel it thrumming underneath his fingertips. 

“Hmmmm…” Urahara said and tapped his closed fan to the bottom of his mouth. 

“What?”

“We’ll go to the teacher’s office first since we know where that is.” He stated. “Mind opening the door for me?”

Opposite enough, it took Ichigo more practice on how to phase through objects rather than touch them as if they were solid. It had something to do with how strong his reishi output was. Rukia certainly had a great time watching him run face first into a wall several times in a row trying to figure out how to not be solid. 

The large door opened with a deep clicking sound as metal banged against dark wood and echoed through the cavernous halls. 

He hoped no one heard that. 

Urahara didn’t seem too concerned about the noise however, strolling in at his usual pace— then placing a hand on the top of his hat, he looked up at the inside of the castle. 

There didn’t look to be any electricity anywhere from what Ichigo could tell. No light switches or anything like that, but shinigami vision was significantly better in the dark than his human vision so he could see fine enough. He hoped Urahara could see in the dark too or else he’d end up having to make sure he didn’t walk into anything the entire time they were here. 

He turned his sight to the walls where there were thick dark wooden frames nailed into it with unevenly sized letters— some of them nailed into the wall so high Ichigo wouldn’t be able to even see the writing from the ground. They surrounded a closed double door five times his height. It looked like Urahara was reading them. 

“What do they say?” He asked, his voice slightly echoing in the tall entryway. 

“Hm? It just looks like rules for students to follow. Nothing too important.” He answered, before walking off. 

And he seemed to know where he was going. He stepped back from the wall of rules and turned down a corridor to the right. They walked down several hallways before coming to a very open stairwell that seemed to be making its own noise. 

Urahara brought his index finger up to his lips, then pointed upwards at the walls. The grinding sound he was hearing turned out to be moving staircases. Then through the dimly lit room he saw portraits of people sleeping in ornate frames and realized the other sound he was hearing was gentle snoring. 

The paintings were sleeping? 

With a leap Urahara didn’t bother to use the stairs, instead jumping high in the air and using his reishi to stand on the air before jumping again. Ichigo followed him until they reached the third floor where they went through a doorway and entered a set of tall hallways. 

Urahura tapped his fan to the underside of his hat.

“I think this is the one.” He said.

The door was supposedly locked, but that wasn’t a problem for someone who could walk through walls. 

The first thing he noted was that the interior of the office was _very_ pink. Not like Kyouraku’s pink, but a few shades darker and more pigmented— it looked strange against the dark yellow greenish stone and high ceiling. It also had more than a dozen white ceramic plates with cats that all looked to be sleeping in them and lacy doilies on nearly every surface. The clashing aesthetics made the whole room look _off_ , juxtaposed in an unpleasant way. 

The next thing he noticed was that there were two desks, one larger than the other in height and width— which Ichigo figured was for a student. 

He took a moment's glance at the larger desk and realized he had no idea what a suspicious object was. Everything here was weird. He was pretty sure moving pictures not on a television was normal for here, so that ruled out the plates. There was also a lot of paper— but he couldn’t exactly read it to see if it was suspicious, although he doubted it would be left in the open like this if it were. 

Ichigo was just along for the ride, he realized. It wasn’t his most spectacular mission. 

He turned and opened the door.

Urahara briskly walked in, taking a quick look around, then he picked up one of the plates and turned it over. At the movement the cat woke up and started meowing as if it had a consciousness of its own.

“I never did find out how they get these to move.” He said with a tilt of his head. 

“Every try asking?”

“Ask? How silly.”

He put it back in its place. Then he went rummaging through her desk for a few seconds. 

“Ah. This should work.” He held out a handwritten paper for him to see then closed the drawer with his cane. 

“That headmaster’s tower is so out of the way— well hidden too.” He opened his fan and held the paper out with his other hand. “Since I can’t walk through walls, how about you drop it off and we’ll meet up after?”

Ichigo took a moment to respond. 

He was absolutely sure Urahara was acting suspicious. But he had no idea what he could possibly be up to. Likely it didn’t involve sending him into a fight. Probably. 

“Fine.”

At least he’ll feel useful if he does this. 

“We’ll split off after we get to the staircase. This way.”

Urahara went up down to the floor while Ichigo made his way to the very top. 

Now he was off to find the headmaster’s tower. 

It was supposed to be in the highest tower of the school, so all he theoretically had to do was shunpo to the outside, find the tallest one then walk through the wall back in. 

Then he realized the papers couldn’t go through the wall with him. 

He’d break a window or something. 

* * *

As soon as Kurosaki disappeared from sight, Urahara went back up to the fourth floor. Since he was going all this way, he might as well take a little something back with him. 

Exploring is where Urahara heard talking in the hallways— whispers.

It seemed like Kurosaki and he weren’t the only people wandering around where they shouldn’t. Except Urahara didn’t sense anyone— and wizards should give off enough reishi to be clearly sensed. Like a Quincy but weaponized in a different way. Especially by someone such as himself. 

“Do you hear footsteps?” He heard a girl ask.

“Sounded more like hooves than shoes.” A young boy responded. 

Geta tended to make a lot of noise, especially on stone floors. But they probably wouldn’t look up, he figured. 

He jumped in the air and hoped the darkness would conceal him. 

“Mr. Filch is supposed to be on the other side of the castle right now, but I’ll check the map.” Said a different boy. 

There was a light rustling of paper then silence, he couldn’t tell if they were moving towards the hallway he was in or not. 

The silence after that was telling. He didn’t know who Mr. Flich was, but based on the fact they implied a map knew where he was— and based on the oddities he knows about wizards and their special objects— he’d make a fine bet that wasn’t the only person it showed the location of. 

A map that shows where people were— even the dead— and the ability to hide from even a Shinigami looking for them? That could be troublesome. _And useful._ Reishi dampeners existed and he had created a handful of them himself, but they could never truly eliminate all of it. This did. But he didn’t have enough time to think about that now.

It was time to play it cool. He wasn’t exactly dressed as a Shinigami, so he could probably get away with it. Wasn’t like they would ever see him again and get a chance to question him on why he was walking around at night. He would ordinarily use his Kikanshinki, but he really couldn’t tell where they were and quite frankly, unlike with the headmaster, it didn’t matter too much. 

He dropped down to the floor— making a bet they weren’t in the hallway he was in— and used Benihime like the cane she was concealed as. If he acted like he was supposed to be here, there was a big possibility they would think he was supposed to be here, since they were not supposed to be. 

Urahara walked down the hallway, his sandals and cane clicking against the cold stone, he came across where the two hallways they were traveling down met. Not a word was said, Urahura didn’t see anything with a glance of his eyes, then they went their separate ways. He heard the careful tapping of hard soled shoes as they went in the opposite direction. 

It was curious how they hid themselves. If they could be hidden from him, could they be hidden to all shinigami? He therefore wondered if whatever method could be used to hide from Aizen and avoid his Zanpakutō’s hallucinations. There was a thought. He pulled his hat further down his face. 

They really didn’t know too much about them. Anything was possible. 

Perhaps he would come back for that, after this little trip, when Kurosaki was out of the way. 

If few things go missing here and there no one is likely to notice. It is a _very big_ castle after all. 

* * *

Finding Urahura was a lot easier than finding the headmaster’s tower. All he had to do was follow his spiritual pressure. And unlike the confusion that happened in soul society with so many strong souls around, he just had to follow the brightest feeling to get to him. Even someone bad at Reiatsu sensing like him was able to do it. 

However, along the way, on the fourth floor he came across a group of three at the hallway’s intersection facing opposite of him at a blank wall. 

It was that kid he saved, he was pretty sure. He also might have seen those other two he was with when he investigated that house.

They walked back and forth across the hall three times, when suddenly a door appeared where there had been stone, fusing out of it and blotching itself with a dark color. 

This place kept getting weirder and weirder. And he thought the moving plates and newspapers were the strangest thing he’s ever seen. To be fair however, Chad had had the ability to morph his arm into black and purple armor and launch people into the stratosphere with his punch, so it wasn’t actually the weirdest thing he’s ever seen. Ichigo himself was also a human with the Reiryoku of a shinigami captain, and the powers of a visored. 

Maybe that was weirder than a door morphing from a wall. 

Definitely Inoue and Chad adjacent. At least Urahara had told him that much. 

When they turned and saw him, they all jumped in surprise and started talking to one another. 

Urahara wasn’t going to be happy with him. But they had already seen him before, so it wasn’t like this was a new thing. And as if he cared what Urahara wanted. 

Was it a bit strange that he was used to people not being able to see him? He wondered. The first time he met Rukia he thought it was stupid how surprised she was that he could see her, now he was in her shoes. He supposed one could only watch people look past themselves enough times before being seen was the unusual situation,.

“Hello.” He said and waved at them while a few steps in their direction. 

They made quick looks to one another before the kid he had saved brought a feather out of his robe and snapped it in half. 

“How’s this?” He asked. 

Ichigo’s eyes widened.

“I can understand you?”

“It’s a translation charm.” The girl said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Then she immediately asked. “Are you here to protect Harry from… you-know-who.”

Ichigo furrowed his brows. He didn’t really like the sound of that. Someone was definitely after that kid then, and it probably wasn’t a misfortune he found two creatures attacking him. 

“I don’t know who.” He responded. 

“Voldemort.” The one he had saved stated. “Let’s get in the room, it would be bad if we were caught now.”

It wasn’t a hard choice for Ichigo to follow them inside, even if he really didn't understand what was happenig. 

“Did you really kill those dementors?” The ginger boy blurted out as soon as the door closed behind them— getting a word in before Ichigo could. 

He thought he might be talking about those things that attacked the dark haired kid, he couldn't be talking about anything else. It was good to have a name for them at least. 

“Uh— yes?” 

“Did you think I was lying about that?” The other boy said to his friend. 

“Well… not really… he does have— that is a very big sword you have.”

“All Shinigami have swords.” He stated. 

Then he remembered he was not supposed to give out information about shinigami to these people.

“My name is Hermione.” The ginger girl said, she sounded a bit nervous, and tended to talk very quickly. “And that’s Ron and Harry. What were you trying to tell us a little while ago— And why do you keep following Harry then— if you don’t know who you-know-who is— and why did you follows us in this room— and why are you taking to us at all?”

“... Coincidence I suppose.” He stated. That was an awful lot of questions at once. So he choose to ignore most of them. “What is this room?”

“It’s the room of requirement.” Ron said. “We’re going to run a class here.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. 

“Aren’t you a bit too young for that sort of thing?”

“We’re fifteen.” Harry stated. 

Ichigo was only one year older than them. They looked a lot younger than him however, sounded a lot younger too. Maybe Ichigo just felt a lot older than he actually was. That tends to happen when you fight for your life. Or maybe it was because he was a good half a foot taller than the tallest one of the three.

“The new defense against the dark arts teacher isn’t teaching us anything, so we’re going to teach ourselves.” Hermione said, sounding a bit irritated at that. “We don’t really want to but we have to know how to defend ourselves.”

“It’s our first time coming here. Had to make sure it existed and all that first— and that we know how to get in.” Said Ron. 

Ichigo didn’t have any idea what the dark arts were, but it sounded like something you probably should defend yourself against. 

“How have you not heard of… you-know-who?” Hermione asked again, this time a bit slower. 

“I don’t really keep up to date with that sort of thing.”

“Well he’s bad news.” Harry said, then furrowed his eyebrows. “Why are you here at Hogwarts then if you don’t know anything?”

“Uh.” Ichigo leaned back and scratched his head. He was never the best liar, it always made him feel weird to lie. “Shinigami business.”

“Well… If it’s that, do you have time to show us something despite it?” Hermione asked.

 _“Hermione.”_ Ron said through his teeth. “I’m sure he’s busy.”

“No, no— I can spare some time.” He reassured. “Sounds like you could use help.”

“Yes.” Harry said and nodded his head. “Yes we could.”

* * *

Kurosaki was taking a long time. 

That was never a good sign. 

Urahara would have sighed if there was someone to witness it. Then he took off to find where Kurosaki might be. He wasn’t on the very top floors, which meant he must have delivered the papers. 

Eventually he came across a point where three hallways met. Kurosaki should be right here, or there should be another hallway directly in front of him. He walked back and forth, looking for a door or a secret entrance but there was none. Unfortunately he was required to wear a gigai at all times while he was in the world of the living. He couldn’t walk through walls like Kurosaki could. 

Maybe he could get there from the floor beneath, perhaps he was in a room with a ceiling so tall it extended into the floor above it. Nonsense architecture wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. 

The sound of grinding stone made him slow his stride. A door appeared morphing from the blank wall where there was no fourth hallway.

That explained where he went, Urahara supposed. 

It was also interesting. He wondered what caused it. More often then than not it seemed like the explanation for wizards magic was, it worked simply because it worked. Except for potions that is. Which is why he had been interested in that subject the most. Until he came across whatever object that group had used, that is. 

He opened the newly formed door to find Ichigo and a group of three kids behind it. Likely the same group he had come across in the halls. 

They all looked quite startled to see him— Kurosaki included in that.

Troublemakers seemed to always find each other, somehow. 

“Thought I might find you in a situation like this.” Urahara said, making his way inside. The door shutting behind him with a clang. “Always making friends aren’t you?”

He looked around the room. It had bookshelves filled with books pertaining to the _dark arts_ from the labels he could read _._ There was also a dummy made from twigs with a painted red and white target on its chest. A training room. He concluded. 

Then he looked at the three wizard’s faces, memorizing them. He would definitely have to erase their memories with his Kikanshinki— not in front of Kurosaki though. He would have to come back some other time. 

“Uh…” Ichigo stammered. 

“Hey. You’re that man from earlier.” The ginger boy said accusingly. 

“And you're that group that was sneaking around when and where you shouldn’t be I assume. Looks like I’ve found four troublemakers then.”

They quickly looked between one another. 

“Wait— you’re not going to tell on us are you?” The girl asked. 

They were all quite quick to change line of thought with a bit of careful persuasion. 

“I’m sure we can come to some agreement! How about if you don’t say anything about us we won't say anything about you.” Not that it really mattered seeing as he was going to wipe their memory in the next day or so. “Let’s go Kurosaki.”

“They really could use some help.” He said.

“I'm sure they have it handled. There are other things we have to do.” Then in a sing-song voice he said. “If you don’t follow me I’ll leave you here with no way back home.”

“Wait— are you a death god too?” The student with dark hair asked. 

“Me? Nah.” He waved his hand. “I’m just here because the headmaster wanted a favor.”

He turned to leave.

Ichigo shunpoed to directly beside him. 

“We’re just going to leave them like that, they wanted help learning how to defend themselves.”

Urahura doubted they could help with that even if they tried. Kido was quite a bit different from magic even if bits of it have a similar theory of use, and Ichigo could not use kido by any means. 

But it probably wouldn’t take Urahara too long to decipher it. At least, with so many books on the subject in this room he could get a better grasp of it quickly. 

“I believe your job is to protect Karakura, is it not?” He rhetorically asked in a low voice so the others couldn’t overhear. “Hollows aren’t just going to stop coming because you aren’t there. We don’t know when Aizen will show his face again.”

“Yeah yeah. Alright.”

Urahara spent years planning on how to take down Aizen— how to rectify his mistake— coming up with plans and eliminating them one by one until the best one remained— perfecting his kiddo— making a backup plan just in case even that didn’t work. And now he was just given twenty new ideas at once. None of them were really refined though. 

He had another plan. A plan to plan other plans.

But first he had a mess to clean up. 

“Those were the people I met before.” Kurosaki said. 

“Hm?”

“The one that monster after, and the other two I saw in the house. So… it wasn’t like I was talking to anyone who didn’t see me before.”

That certainly made his life a bit easier. 

* * *

When Dumbledore entered his office early that morning he immediately noted the broken window hinge and small pile of papers on the floor. His office was cluttered, but it was never out of place. Someone broke into his office, and that was cause for great concern— then he realized nothing else had been moved in the slightest, and the papers on the ground were not his. 

However he hardly had any time to examine them. Both Professor Snape _and_ Umbridge wanted to have a few words with him before breakfast even began. 

Umbrage noted someone opened the the front door to the school last night. And she was quite upset over the fact she wasn’t able to figure out who did it despite the detection spell going off. She did not however, mention her office being broken into. 

Professor Snape told him someone stole from the potions room— and looked through his books and writing based on how they weren’t left as he had left them before. 

Curious, that was. 

* * *

“Eh-hem.” Umbridge said at breakfast in the dining hall, getting everyone’s attention. 

“What’s she on about this time?” Ron whispered.

“Nothing good I'd bet.” Harry responded. 

“Late last night someone opened the front door to Hogwarts. I must remind you that anyone found sneaking outside of the castle at night will result in an immediate expulsion. Anyone found roaming the corridors after curfew will result in suspension.” She said with a smile.

Harry looked to Ron and Hermione. This wasn’t their doing. But it wasn’t as if they didn’t have any ideas. It must have been that strange man they saw. 

Snape stood up and walked to her side at the front of the room. 

“Along with that someone _stole_ several things from the potions room. Several potentially dangerous materials.” Snape stated, drawing out several of the words. “There will be _consequences_ for the perpetrator or perpetrators.”

“In good time I’m sure they will be caught.” Umbrage took over again. “Anyone who has information to give about either matter will be given extra credit. That is all.”

Immediately everyone turned to talking amongst themselves on the subject. 

“I think that weird man might have stole it.” Ron said in a low voice. 

“Well who else would have?” Hermione asked. 

“There’s definitely no way Dumbledore actually sent him.” Harry concluded. “I knew he looked like he was up to no good.”

“But how did he know… _you know_ …” Hermione raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe he lied about not being a death god then?” Ron suggested. 

“But then what would they want with potions? And he doesn’t really look like one.” Hermione said. “None of it makes sense.”

“Maybe death gods aren’t really what Wizards think they are then.” Summarized Harry. “I mean— they aren’t supposed to talk either but… well we all know that’s not true now.”

They stopped talking as another student walked past. 

“Someone else could have stolen it.” Hermione whispered leaning in close. “And it could have been a coincidence they were here at the time.”

“Not like we can exactly contact them.” Harry said. “They probably went off to… wherever they're from.”

“Probably where everyone goes when they die.” Suggested Ron. 

“Probably should have asked about that when we had the chance.” Harry said. 

“They probably just get rid of spirits— so they're not all running around outside the Wizarding world like they do at Hogwarts.”

“And what do you think happens then, after they're gone from this world?” Harry asked. 

“Probably whatever happened to those dementors, they died even though they were already dead. Or well, they’ve been officially classed as spirits anyways.” 

Really they were just talking in circles now. 

There was a bit of silence as they ate.

“At least we’ll be able to actually start learning now.” Hermione said.

"You mean everyone else'll be leaning." Harry corrected. "I'll just be practicing. And leaning how to teach magic on the fly."

"It can't be that bad Harry. Everyone knows how good you are at defense against the dark arts."

But he didn't know how good he was at teaching.

* * *

There was a little problem with memory wiping Wizards. Miss one, and they’ll remember. They had the ability to return memories to the others that had lost it somehow. Unlike Quincy’s they didn’t exactly mess with the spirit world besides occasionally tying pluses to their world and thus were deemed a non-issue. More trouble than they were worth. And so, Shinigami decided to avoid them altogether. 

Urahura had four people to memory wipe— the three kids and the headmaster, and that should take care of the problem. 

And the headmaster was currently alone in his office.

At least he made a safe assumption it was him. He was alone in the headmaster’s office and had the general aura of someone who ran things.

Aizen taught him it's so much easier to backstab someone while they were looking you in the face. Approaching someone with a lot of reishi from behind would set off suspicion in their mind. He didn’t exactly know everything these wizards had up their sleeve, it would be easier to use the memory wipe if he was at ease. Not expecting it. 

“Are you going to stand there all day?” The headmaster asked without turning around.

He _could_ sense his reiatsu then. 

“Just looking around.” Urahura answered. 

Dumbledore turned to face him. 

Urahura casually walked towards him with his cane, then stopped directly in front of him. He watched the headmaster’s eyes flicker up and down his person. 

“If you and your friend would have liked something from the potions room, you could have asked.”

“Ah… my bad.” He put his hand in his sleeve, hand wrapping around the Kikanshinki. “Hope those papers made up for it.”

“Yes well… those papers weren’t why I—“

And Urahura sprung his attack. 

* * *

Where would a kid hide something invisible? Urahura wondered. Their dorm rooms definitely— it was the only place it really could be in a school while being readily available for students to use to sneak around. 

He didn’t really know much about this place however. Whatever dorm they resided in and where it was was unknown to him. The only things he knew was what the headmaster had told him. And he didn’t know he even existed anymore. Which meant it was going to be a little while to find everything out.

But eventually he did figure out where the dorms were, behind a painting is where the students who wore red and highlighted gold lived. 

As it turned out, finding something that concealed its existence from even Shinigami was difficult. He had no idea what it looks like, but he was sure it had to be an object. These were students after all, they didn’t have the magical talent to cast something like that— if anything like that did exist. 

He also only had a few scarce minutes to look before some student came wandering in and he had to shunpo away from view. 

Inevitably, he came to the conclusion that he would have to get one of the three who were in possession of it to give it to him. 

Which meant he couldn’t memory wipe them all the moment he got them alone. That really put a time crunch on things. He had to convince them to tell him where it was before any of them talked to the headmaster again. 

The only problem was he had no idea where those students could be.

* * *

In the afternoon there was a gathering of nearly everyone in the school. Urahura looked down from the roof at the courtyard, drawn to the movement and turnout. The students stood in the shadow of the open archways that surrounded it while the center of the courtyard was occupied by two others. Most Wizards couldn't sense his presence he realized quickly enough after being here for a few hours. They weren't quite as _attuned_ as Quincys were, lucky for him.

It was nearly a dead silence save for the crying of one of the women in the center, standing near a few large leather suitcases. 

One of the teachers was being fired and thrown out of the school from what he could guess, and it was no small event.

And now the headmaster was here— Urahara watched him approach the two women and usher her back inside before telling the onlookers to move on. 

_“Professor—_ Professor Dumbledore!” One student shouted, chasing after him. 

It was one of the three he had seen talking to Kurosaki. That got his attention. 

Urahara was careful to follow him without being seen. When he walked into the school, the boy was standing in the middle of the hallway, desperately looking back and forth as the other students slowly dispersed back to their classes. 

He could memory wipe him now, isolated as he was. Use one of the other two to get the item he wanted. The ginger boy seemed the most likely to give in. 

Urahara went to pull the Kikanshinki, but paused in his movements. 

Last night he didn’t notice, but now that he was singularly focused on him he saw something— _felt_ something. 

His soul was _wrong._

Not dark— not like a hollow, it was simply incorrect. Two different Reiryoku cores from the same body. Two spirit ribbons for one body and soul. 

That was interesting.

Urahara took a step forward, his sandals clicking in the empty stone hallway. 

With a startled move the kid twisted around and stared directly at him. 

“You… _you_ stole from Professor’s Snape class didn’t you.” He immediately accused. 

This could become a troublesome situation. Urahara opened his fan and waved it in the air. 

“I also stole a little something from Umbridge’s office— headmaster asked for it.” Which was technically true. He wasn’t exactly lying, just letting him out pieces together that didn’t truly fit. 

The student looked towards the ground before looking back up to him. 

“What the bloody hell has he been thinking?”

“No idea.”

“He’s not talking to you either then?” 

Urahara wondered what he meant by that. But it implied he wouldn’t be seeing him anytime soon which largely worked in his favor. 

“Honestly… the only reason he ever talked to me to begin with was because I happen to know that Shinigami.”

He took a few steps forward. Trying to observe his soul better. It wouldn’t be possible to ask about it without giving himself away. Never has he seen anything like it before. 

There went his plan to Kikanshinki everyone. 

It wouldn’t be possible to get this close to him without it being a kidnapping if he wiped his memory.

“And how could you possibly know him?” The student asked.

Urahara looked up. So he didn’t think he was a death god then. That was good. 

“Isn’t there a class you should be getting too? I’d really hate if you ended up being late because of me.”

He saw his jaw clench. 

“Fine.” He sharply turned and left. 

* * *

Expelliarmus wasn’t too complicated of a spell, everyone learned it in their second year. It was a disarming type— made whoever you used it on drop whatever they were holding, infinitely useful in fights in Harry’s opinion. Your opponent couldn't exactly fight you without their wand in hand. At least, for the more talented wizards it would make it much harder.

Which is why he had chosen it to teach everyone. He didn't have to truly teach them spell from nothing, he just had to get everyone to practice it to perfection. Make sure that every time they cast it it worked without fail.

They ran miniature duels with no formalities in the room of requirement. Each person trying to disarm the other with the spell faster than the other person could disarm them. 

But Harry was a bit distracted, not really watching. He kept wondering about that man. The one with the green striped hat and pale blonde hair. He showed up again, but this time without that death god and in the middle of the day. Maybe he hadn’t been lying about being sent here by Dumbledore. Surely _someone_ by now would have seen a strange man wandering around the school. 

“You look distracted.” Luna stated leaning in towards him, which was quite a lot coming from her— the girl who had a perpetual day dreaming look about her. 

“Well, there’s a lot to think about. With Professor Trewlaney being sacked and all.”

“I was under the impression you didn’t like her?” She tilted her head. 

He was, but he had never told her that. 

“Still, it means a lot. Umbridge clearly isn’t afraid to fire people for all to see. And if Dumbledore can’t replace her then another ministry appointed person will be here.” He explained. “Next person she fires might not deserve it.”

“I suppose.” She stated. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. What are you really thinking of.”

Harry didn’t know how to respond to that. 

They sound of Fred’s wand being shot into the air by his brother, causing them to look back at the dueling. He loudly congratulated himself and took an overly dramatic bow. Harry never made them bow before dueling. Last year Voldemort had made him bow and bowed back to him in some twisted form of friendliness before he tried to kill him— the sight of George doing so even so loud and happy reminded him of it. 

“How about we duel next?” Harry asked her. 

"Naturally." She answered.

* * *

While Urahara was here waiting around, trying to figure out how he got into the hidden room before, he might as well read some books. 

Classes were over for the day, which meant the classrooms were empty, and he took to using one of them to read without having to worry too much about being interrupted.

Spells was the first thing he went for. 

It was different from Kido. All of them were taught with the impression that the reader would be using a wand. Closer to what Quincy’s do than what Shinigami do— they similarly required something to channel their power through most of the time.

He knew Yourichi learned how to transform into a cat from them. Although he can’t figure out how she managed that when this magic was so different. So far he hasn’t seen anything about it in the book he was looking through. He hadn’t seen anything in the potions he glanced through yesterday either.

Someone was coming, he realized.

 _The Headmaster_ was coming.

Not a great sign.

It would be useless to hide. It probably wasn’t a coincidence he was coming here. If he could tell where he was when he was standing behind him then he could probably tell where he was in the school as well. He would play dumb though, just in case.

The door to the classroom opened. 

He walked forward through the center of the desks. 

“You erased my memory.” He simply stated. 

That’s what Urahara was afraid he would say. It looked like he wasn’t even going to get the opportunity to play dumb. 

“Ah. Thought you weren’t talking to those students anymore…”

“For now, I still am not.”

Urahara looked up. He hadn’t questioned what he meant by that. 

“Then how?”

“I would rather not say.” He responded. “Although I must ask why.”

“Would you erase the memory of a muggle who accidentally stumbled upon wizards? Honestly I didn’t think it was that hard to figure out, no hard feelings really.”

Urahara felt his eyes bore over him. He also saw reishi particles gather in the air near them, moving by the Wizard’s accord. 

_“He’s looking at us.”_ Benihime said. 

Of course he was. He was judging if he was an enemy or not— if he could take him in a fight or not if he was smart. What Urahara did to him wasn't exactly a friendly action. But it wasn't strictly hostile either. 

_“He’s looking in us.”_ She rephrased. 

And Urahara understood what she meant. The wizard was doing some type of magic although he couldn't recognize what it was. Didn’t know they could do that either. He wondered what the wizard could see in his head. Could he see Benihime whispering to him? Could he hear her voice alerting him to his intrusion? Was his mind different from glancing into another Wizard’s? 

What was he looking for in there?

Dumbledore turned his eyes away, then spoke with sure words. 

“When a muggle marries a Wizard, or has a child with magical abilities they are allowed to know of the wizarding world, even visit it at times. I am disappointed you did not take my word of discretion with your kind.” Dumbledore was keeping his distance. He also noted his hand was close to his wand. “Perhaps we should be completely truthful with one another. I had an ulterior motive for contacting you rather than gathering some papers, which I had been about to tell you before you… interrupted.”

“Oh?”

“Would a man splitting his soul into seven pieces be something for a death god to deal with?” Dumbledore asked. 

_Mugetsu_. Urahara thought.

He paused. Then opened his fan, bringing it to his face. 

“Soul splitting?” He innocently questioned. 

Urahura didn’t know Wizards could do that. Shinigami couldn’t do that and retain their powers. 

“Into different objects. It’s not the kind of thing to be mentioned in letters.” He explained. “That way he cannot die without all of them being destroyed. They are called horcruxes, the darkest and most forbidden magic. Even their existence is forbidden to be taught at this school. Most do not know they exist.”

“Hmmm…”

That was interesting.

He turned.

As it turns out, avoiding a group of spiritually powerful people for a few centuries leads to a lot of missing information. He came here to clean up Kurosaki’s mess but it appeared he was being dragged into it. The sideline approach was his preferred method, but sometimes you had to do things yourself. 

This wasn’t exactly a matter to be solved by swinging a sword. 

Then he realized something. Perhaps this horcrux is why that wizard had a double pulsating soul. 

“Say… one of your students wouldn’t happen to be one of these horcruxes, would they?” He questioned. 

The headmaster took a moment to respond.

“What possibly gave you that idea?”

“Shinigami can see souls.” 

“Then what do you see in Harry?”

“Is that his name?”

“Harry Potter is his full name. What did you see in him?”

“That depends, _is_ he a horcrux?”

Dumbledore paused taking a few steps towards the desk and putting his hands on it. 

“I’m afraid so.”

A living being with two souls— one part of it belonging to another who was also alive. He felt Benihime thrum under the palm of his hand at the thought— at the existence of that. What would that look like— what did the other person’s soul look like, fractured into pieces— what did it change about them to be broken yet living and unable to heal— or to be alive and fused with someone else?

If he pushed Potter out of his body, what would his true being look like? Two separate entities chained to the same body or an amalgamation of one? 

“I see confliction.” Urahara answered. “Different Reiatsu pulses being let out from the same soul. Is the soul always split equally using this horcrux?” 

“Certainly not. How much of him is in there?”

“Honestly— no idea.” He shrugged and put his hands in the air, then leaned back. “Enough to be a problem obviously… but you already knew that I’d think.”

The headmaster was silent for a moment. 

“So… is it your kinds business then?” 

“I’d say it’s my business… for now.” He closed his fan. If Soul Society found out and didn’t like it, he would just have to remind them he wasn’t technically a Shinigami. “Although I’ll admit I don’t know a solution.”

He would ask about the invisibility object, but he had a feeling it was something those kids weren’t supposed to have and telling him about would make it harder to acquire. 

“Any help is appreciated.” He paused. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage, I do not believe I know your name.”

“I didn’t give it.” He responded. "Guess I'll be around then."

"Am I correct to be under the assumption that you need no introduction to young Harry?"

He lightly scratched the underside of his jaw.

"I think I manage."

It took Urahara three days to figure out how to get into that room without leaving his gigai.

* * *

Teaching defense against the dark arts felt great.

That’s something Harry didn’t quite expect. 

He didn’t know much about teaching, but he did know that he was everyone’s best chance for learning practical applications. Hermione has been reading the more advanced dark art defense books made by the room and explaining it to them, but they haven't managed to figure any of the spells out on their own yet. 

Between the three of them, they had enough knowledge to run some sort of practice class. Even if a lot of it was just practicing what most of them already know. 

While the room was available for anyone to practice at any time, Harry would always be there one day of the week, after everyone’s classes had ended on a day where no one had quidditch practice.

With a bit of nervous excitement for the day, Harry opened the door and led everyone inside for the official group session, but he stopped short, dead in his tracks after seeing what, or more specifically _who_ was inside the room today. 

That strange man was here. 

He was sitting crossed legged on the floor and reading a book, looking completely relaxed despite how very out of place everything about him looked. Ron grabbed his arm at the sight. 

“Who is that?” Neville asked in a bit of a high pitched voice, likely louder than he intended it to be.

At that, the man looked up at all of them, half his face shadowed by his striped hat. 

“Oh, didn’t expect there to be so many of you.” He stated, and closed the book.

“Who are you?” Luna asked in that light and curious voice of hers taking a few steps forward.

 _“Me?”_ He questioned in a light voice, then tilted his head up and in a cheerful tone told them all, “Why, I’m just a humble shopkeeper~!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s also a plot twist for me that Urahura did this. Flow of thought writing is really something sometimes 
> 
> Urahura 🤝 Dumbledore  
> Not telling their student the sacrifice that will have to be made to defeat the Big Bad ™

**Author's Note:**

> I read a part of order of the phoenix for this and it literally reads like a shitty fanfiction or something like what the hell, everyone who isn’t Harry is a strawman made solely for him to push down, including Hermione and Ron. You cannot go 4 pages without a continuity error. I read the first book a few years ago and I swear it’s written 10x better, like what happened. I haven’t been so absolutely dumbfounded by literature since I read the original Jeff the killer story


End file.
